


Not To Me

by DifferenceEngineGirl



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Mild Blood, Post-Devil Face Reveal to Chloe Decker, Post-Season/Series 03 Finale, S3e23 spoilers, Wings, s3e24 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-01 14:29:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15775980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DifferenceEngineGirl/pseuds/DifferenceEngineGirl
Summary: *SPOILERS FOR 3x23 AND 3x24 IN SUMMARY*"You’re not the Devil. Not to me."It was only a couple of days since Chloe stood on a balcony and spoke those words to Lucifer, but her entire world had changed. Charlotte was dead. The Lieutenant, her boss, the man she almost married, killed her and is the head of a vast criminal empire. And everything Lucifer told her was true. She has definitive proof, and there’s no going back. For either of them.





	1. It's all true...

Chloe ran down the stairs to find Lucifer crouching by Pierce's unmoving body.   
"Lucifer!" she said, slowing to a stop as he began to stand up and she caught a glimpse of something red.   
"Lucifer?"   
He stood up fully, turning to look at her and her mind stuttered to a halt. The man before her looked horribly burned and scarred, and his eyes were glowing.   
"It's all true…" she breathed, unable to tear her eyes away from that shocking visage. He looked confused, and when Lucifer's voice came out of that inhuman face, she felt like something stabbed her in the gut.   
"Detective?"   
"It's all true…" She started to shuffle backwards towards the stairs, desperately needing to sit down.

He reached out towards her, before he caught sight of the burnt red skin on his hand and he froze, something like fear flashing in his eyes. After a moment he turned his head slowly, seeking out his reflection in a broken mirror against one of the boxes and tentatively exploring his face with his fingertips, a look of abject terror building as the reality of this sunk in.   
"No… no please…" he mumbled, beginning to hyperventilate as he turned back towards her, eyes wide and looking more afraid of her than she was of him.   
"I'm sorry Chloe, I-I didn't mean for this to happen. I-I'm sorry." he stammered as he unfolded a pair of huge, beautiful,  ** _hurting_**  white wings  ** _streaked with blood_**  and took off, leaving Chloe alone with her mind spinning.

\-----------------*-----------------

Lucifer was halfway to his penthouse when he realised Ella and Dan would still be there. Quickly he changed course, hoping his wings would hold out long enough to get him to Linda’s office. He remembered to switch planes for long enough that he didn’t crash through her window, instead landing in a mess of limbs and feathers on top of the low table in the middle of the room, scattering bloody tissues and the various medical supplies everywhere. Maze leapt up and pushed Linda behind her as soon as he appeared, ready to kill anyone that dared threaten her friend.   
" _Lucifer..?_  Oh my goodness! What happened?" Linda exclaimed as soon as she saw the white wings and the blood splattered over them. He didn't reply, weakly trying to get up, and failing until Linda and Maze helped him onto the couch. He hissed in pain as his back and wings made contact with the cushions, but made no effort to pull away.   
"Lucifer… Your face… It's back." Maze said, staring at the scarred and raw face that she knew so well, twisted in a grimace of pain and fear.   
"Lucifer, what happened?" Linda asked, ignoring the return of his Devil face for the moment, with a little effort to squash down the animal fear that had started to bubble up inside her when she saw it again.   
"Chloe…" he whispered, and a jolt of fear shot down her spine at the raw anguish in his voice.   
"What happened? Is she ok?"   
"She saw… She saw everything and she's afraid of me now. I saw it in her eyes." he replied, burying his head in his hands. Maze looked slightly uncomfortable at the raw emotion he was showing, and distracted herself by examining the state of his wings.   
"There are a lot of broken feathers here. I'll get stuff to fix it while you deal with the emotions Linda." she said, getting up and leaving the office before anyone could say anything else.

"Lucifer, I want to help, but I can only do that if I know what happened, ok? How about you tell me what happened to your wings first?" she asked gently, and he looked up at her before he began.   
"We went after Cain, and he led us into a trap, a-and I had to protect her. I-I thought he’d killed her…"   
He took a deep, shuddering breath before continuing.   
"H-he got his men to open fire, so I shielded her with my wings and when they stopped firing I flew her to a roof. She was wearing a vest and was fine so I left her there to go and deal with Cain. I… I-I killed him." he started rambling, panic rising in his voice before he stuttered to a halt. Abject horror dawned on his face as his breathing started to become shallow and erratic and he once more buried his head in his hands.   
"Oh Dad… I-I killed a human…".   
Linda could see that Lucifer was rapidly approaching a full-blown panic attack, so filed away her questions for later.   
"Lucifer, try and breathe. Slowly, in and out. With me, ok?" she said, starting to take slow, exaggerated breaths, continuing until he copied her and the panic attack passed.   
"I'm assuming Chloe saw your face after that."   
He nodded, a lump forming in his throat and stopping him speaking.   
"Did you know it was back?" she asked, and despite the softness with which she spoke, Lucifer broke.

He barely managed to shake his head before his body was wracked with awful sobs, somehow made worse by the lack of tears from his ruined tear ducts. Linda had been sat in a chair facing him, but when he started to cry she joined him on the couch, the sound of her friend in pain overriding any fear at getting closer to the Devil, and let him cling to her like she was the only thing between him and oblivion. He buried his face in her shoulder, muffling the terrible sound of his pain a little as she stroked soothing patterns on the back of his neck, noting with a curious detachment that his skin wasn’t as hot as she expected and felt almost like soft leather.

They sat like that for a while, as she tried to reassure and calm him a little and he clutched at the back of her dress, until Maze returned. At some point during this Lucifer’s usual appearance had reasserted itself and his weak sobs had started to be accompanied by tears.   
"Linda, can you fill this up with water? I saw there were things stuck in his wings and we need to get them out before he heals too much over them." she said as she dumped her supplies on the table. Linda nodded and turned her attention to getting Lucifer to release her.   
"Lucifer, I need you to let go of me so Maze and I can fix your wings. I’ll be right back, ok?"   
He released his grip on her dress and put up no resistance as she disentangled herself from his long arms. As she stood up, she saw how physically and emotionally exhausted he was after the events of the last few hours, but forced herself to take the bowl Maze held and leave them for a moment.

When she got back with the bowl full of recently boiled water, Maze had somehow got Lucifer out of his jacket and shirt and sat backward on a chair, his wings drooping either side of him as he leant on a cushion that had been put between his bare chest and the wooden back of the chair.   
"Thanks Linda." Maze said, offering her a weak smile before she turned to the wing in front of her, moving feathers out of the way to find the entry wounds. The wing jerked away from her as she brushed against one and Linda could see his body tense.   
"Lucifer, you need to stay still so I can get these out." Maze paused for a moment to grab a pair of surgical forceps - that she’d found goodness knows where - before she moved to dig out the first bullet. As soon as the cold metal touched the wound, his wing flinched violently away, thudding into the arm of the couch as he choked back a cry of pain.   
"Linda, can you help hold his wing still while I do this?"   
Through their sessions, Linda was well aware that Lucifer’s wings were a bit of a sore spot, and through the research she’d done she could guess that having them restrained would not be a particularly pleasant experience, but she knew Maze was right. That notwithstanding, she refused to touch them without his permission.   
"Lucifer, may I touch your wings? I know this will be unpleasant, but Maze is right. We need to get the bullets out."

He hesitated for a moment before nodding and she could see his body tense again. His wing was warm and soft under her hands and she could feel it quivering as his muscles tensed in anticipation of the pain. Holding as firmly as she could without hurting him further with one hand, she stroked the other through the unbroken feathers on the underside of his wing, trying to get him to relax a little and make removing the bullets a little easier. Almost as soon as his wing began to droop again, Maze dug in and removed the first bullet, not unkindly, but with a brusque efficiency. The wing jerked under Linda's hand as Lucifer choked back another cry, but she managed to hold it steady until Maze dropped the bullet into a bowl on the table with a dull clink.

They repeated the process a couple more times before any of them actually spoke again.   
"Should we call Amenadiel? It would probably be useful to have someone else who knows about wings." Linda asked, feeling a little awkward bringing him up but knowing she was way out of her depth. Before Maze could reply, Lucifer spoke up, his voice rough from crying.   
"Can't. He's gone."   
Maze froze.   
"What do you mean, 'gone'?" she asked, a hollow feeling in her gut.   
"He got his wings back and flew Charlotte to the Silver City."   
"Flew Charlotte…? What?" Linda asked, not wanting to believe what she thought he was saying.   
"Oh… I thought someone had told you Linda. Charlotte… She's dead. Cain killed her." he said, voice dropping to a whisper on the last part. The two women took a moment to take the news in, before Maze's lip curled in a snarl.   
"When I find him he's gonna hurt before I kill him! I was beginning to like her!" she said, not noticing how uncomfortable Lucifer was getting. Linda glanced over and saw the tension rebuilding in his shoulders and the grimace on his face.   
"Maze, Cain is dead. It’s over." Linda said, not taking her eyes off Lucifer’s face.   
"Who killed him? Are you sure he’s dead?"   
"I’m sure Maze. Can we leave it for now? You said yourself that we haven’t got very long to remove the bullets from Lucifer’s wings." Linda said, resuming stroking her fingers through Lucifer’s feathers as Maze realised who had killed Cain.   
"Oh." she said, looking surprised and pausing for a moment before setting down the forceps and unbuckling Lucifer’s belt.   
"What are you doing Maze?" he asked, shifting slightly uncomfortably as she pulled it off.   
"I’m going to have to start working faster, and as any drugs Linda might have won’t work for long enough on you, I thought you might want to try an older human method of pain management. Also thought you might appreciate not having to explain why there's screaming coming from your office Linda." she explained, folding the belt over a couple of times and offering it to him.  
"Bite down on this. It’s going to hurt, but I’m not gonna stop until all the bullets are out."

Lucifer did as she asked, taking the leather between his teeth as she moved to find the next bullet. Linda kept stroking his wing as Maze efficiently worked her way over it, past the point where his stifled cries of pain would have become screams if not for the belt between his teeth, and when all the bullets were out moved on to do the same to the other wing.

When it was over, Lucifer had almost bitten clean through his belt and the bowl on the table was full of bullets and bullet fragments.   
"There’s a couple of broken blood feathers to pluck then we’re done Lucifer." Maze said, swapping the forceps for a pair of heavy-duty pliers. He barely reacted as she found the broken feathers and pulled them out with a sharp tug, utterly spent from everything that had happened. He put up no resistance as Linda took a cloth and tried to clean away some of the blood, as well as cleaning and bandaging the cut on his arm. Before she cleaned the cut, a thought struck her and she snapped a photo of the wound in case evidence of it was needed for the investigation, as in all likelihood it would be healed by the next morning.

Once she'd done all she could, she persuaded both immortals that they should stay in her office for a while and rest. Maze helped her lay Lucifer on the couch after she'd got his shoes off, one wing resting on the floor and the other on the back of the couch and a blanket over him as he lay with his back to the room, before she curled up slightly reluctantly in a chair facing the door, watching as Linda locked it. She'd cancelled all her remaining appointments when Maze arrived, but didn't want to risk anyone coming in and seeing Lucifer's wings. Sitting behind her desk and getting out some paperwork, she settled in for most likely spending the night in her office as both Maze and Lucifer fell asleep, leaving the room in a comfortable silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the fic will hopefully be published with an at least semi-regular schedule. Thanks to my awesome beta reader Hannah.
> 
> Feedback is always welcome!


	2. Voicemails and Phone Calls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Lucifer ran, Chloe was left alone to deal with the arrival of Dan, Ella and backup, as well as the revelation of Lucifer's identity.

When Dan and Ella arrived at the loft along with backup, they found Pierce's body and Chloe sat on the stairs, staring blankly into the middle distance. Dan went straight to her, while the backup secured Pierce's henchmen and the crime scene, and Ella immediately went over to Pierce‘s body.   
"Chloe? Are you ok?" Dan asked, crouching in front of her. She didn’t seem to notice he was there until he reached out and put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her attention back into the room.   
"Chloe are you ok? What happened?" he asked again when her eyes landed on his worried face.   
"Yeah… yeah I'm fine. Pierce tried to kill us." she said, her voice sounding detached and far away.   
"I heard gunshots on the phone just before you hung up. What happened after that?" he asked as he began to recognise the signs of shock in her.   
"I-I’m not sure. I heard gunshots and when I got here it was all over. But it was self-defence, I’m sure!" she replied.   
"OK Chlo. You'll need to give a statement to whoever gets put in charge of this." he said before moving to see if he could get a shock blanket from one of the paramedics for her.

As he walked out of the room, Ella turned away from Pierce's body to look over the rest of the scene. Paramedics were checking the other bodies, letting another forensic tech take a photo of their position before moving all but one to a waiting ambulance and off to hospital, so her attention turned to the numerous broken and bloody white feathers scattered over the floor.   
"Woah! Looks like someone murdered a turkey in here!" Ella exclaimed, picking up one of the more intact ones "Nah, something bigger. These are huge!"

Chloe snapped into full awareness as Ella spoke.   
"Lucifer..!" she breathed before fumbling for her phone. Once she'd got it out of her pocket, she found his contact and pressed call. Worrying at her lower lip with her teeth, she listened to it ring as flashes of those blood-spattered wings sprouting from his back and vaguely heard sounds of pain flew through her mind until the ringing stopped with a click.   
_"You've reached Lucifer Morningstar. I'm unavailable at the moment, so leave your desire after the tone and I'll get back to you."_  She could hear the smirk in his voice and almost see the little eyebrow tweak as he said desire.   
"Lucifer it's Chloe. Call me back when you get this ok? I just want to know you're ok." The voicemail did nothing to quell her worry and she immediately tried calling Maze. Again, she listened to it ring for a while.   
_"This is Mazikeen Smith. If it's important, leave a message."_  Her voice was short and snappy, somehow putting across that if it wasn’t important she would think nothing of gutting you for the inconvenience.   
"Maze, it’s Chloe. If you see Lucifer, get him to call me. Please. It’s important."

As she tried to figure out what to do next, Dan came back with a blanket. He draped it over her shoulders, and turned to leave when Chloe grabbed his arm.   
"Dan have you got Amenadiel’s number?"   
"Yeah, why?"   
"Lucifer ran off before you got here and now he’s not answering his phone, and neither is Maze. Amenadiel might know where he is."   
"Alright. Here, and when you find him, he’ll need to come in and give a statement too." he said, finding Amenadiel’s contact and showing her his phone.

Once Dan had left, she dialled Amenadiel’s number, and it went straight to voicemail.   
_"You have reached Amenadiel. Please leave your name and number after the tone and I will get back to you."_  It was like he had read the message from a script, presenting her with the mental image of an elderly person struggling with technology.   
"Amenadiel, it’s Chloe. If you see Lucifer, please get him to call me. It’s important." Hanging up, she again was left with worry in the pit of her stomach and not knowing what to do next. Soon she decided just to keep trying to call Lucifer and Maze, worry building as they still didn’t answer and not bothering to leave more than a couple more voicemails.

Eventually Dan came back.   
"Hey Chlo, go home. You can give your statement in the morning. A lot has happened, so please, go home." he said, looking exhausted himself. She would have suggested that he do the same, but she knew he needed to work at the moment to deal with the fact he wasn’t the one to take down Pierce and enact justice for Charlotte. This in mind, she nodded, leaving the blanket where she sat and making her way back to her car and home.

When she got home, she suddenly remembered the one person she hadn’t called yet who might know where Lucifer was. She was pretty certain that Linda knew he was actually the Devil - weird as that was - because of mentions he’d made about having broken her around the same time he tried to get himself shot by a sniper. Finding her contact and hitting call, she hoped that she would pick up and she wouldn’t be greeted by yet another voicemail message.

After a few tense moments, the ringing stopped with a click.   
"Doctor Linda Martin."   
"Linda! Thank goodness you answered. It’s Chloe. Do you know where Lucifer is?" she asked, relieved that someone had finally answered but still worried that Linda might not have seen him.   
"I do. Are you alright?" she asked, remembering how terrified and off-balance she’d felt immediately after finding out Lucifer was exactly who he said he was.   
"I’m fine. Is he? Is he safe?"   
"He’s with me, and Maze is too. They’re both resting at the moment, he was in a bit of a state when he got here."   
"Thank Go- thank goodness." she breathed, relieved that he was with someone who cared about him, and realising that she'd have to rethink her go-to exclamations now she knew God was real.  
"What happened Chloe? Lucifer told me some of it, but I want to hear your side as well."   
"After we worked out that Marcus was the one who - oh! Damn, no one told you, did they?"   
"It's ok Chloe. Lucifer told me that Charlotte had died, and that Pierce killed her. Go on."   
Chloe outlined what happened between that point and when Pierce’s thug shot her, not bothering to go into too much detail because that all seemed unimportant compared to what happened after that.   
"The shot knocked the wind out of me, and knocked me back into Lucifer’s arms, and I think I blacked out for a moment, but I think I vaguely remember machine gun fire and sounds of pain from right next to me. The next thing I remember for certain is opening my eyes on a rooftop and Lucifer looking concerned at me and then relieved when I showed him I was wearing a vest. When I asked him what happened, he told me I was safe and that was all that mattered. I turned my back for a second and he disappeared. Dan rang to tell me it was a trap, and I heard gunshots again. By the time I made it back into the loft, Pierce was dead, and Lucifer was crouched by his body." Chloe paused for a moment to take a deep breath before continuing.   
"When he stood up, he was all red and burned and scarred and his eyes were glowing. I don’t think he knew he looked like that, and when he saw the change in the skin on his hand he freaked out. He kept saying he was sorry and then unfurled wings and flew off. Dan, Ella and backup arrived at some point after that." After Chloe finished recounting the events of the day, Linda stayed quiet for a moment, mentally comparing Lucifer and Chloe's accounts, looking for anything he left out.

"So you know Lucifer is the Devil now. I know that can be a lot to take in."   
"I think I kinda knew already, but knowing he never lied to me and it's all real is quite a lot to get my head round. Hell, I've never believed any of that stuff, but I guess that's changed!"   
"Lucifer and Maze are still the same people they have always been."   
"Oh, Maze! My roommate's a demon. That- that explains a lot, actually." she said, with a soft huff of laughter as she remembered some of Maze's odd (by human standards) behaviour that suddenly made so much more sense.   
"You seem to be handling this a lot better than I did."   
"I have no doubt it's all going to hit me at some point soon, but Lucifer was hurt and I needed to know he's ok. Can- can I talk to him?"   
"He's sleeping at the moment, and he really needs it. I can try to get him to call you in the morning?"   
"Thanks Linda. I just want to hear him say that he's ok. If you can't get him to call me, can you tell him he needs to go into the precinct to give a statement?"   
"Of course."

That evening, she tried her best not to worry about Lucifer, or what it all meant, needing to stave off the inevitable freak-out until everything with Pierce was sorted. When Trixie got back from school, all thoughts of Heaven and Hell, and angels, devils and demons flew out of her head as it suddenly struck home how close she'd been to never seeing her daughter again. If she was a bit more clingy than usual, Trixie didn't mention it. She did ask about the bruise blooming just above her collar, but Chloe was quick to reassure her that the bad man who'd hurt her was gone - deliberately not mentioning that it was Marcus or that Lucifer had killed him so Trixie wouldn't worry too much.

She went to bed very soon after her daughter, and her dreams were filled with bloody wings and terrified devils.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to my beta reader Hannah. Feedback is always welcome!


	3. I'm not scared of you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next day, Chloe talks to Lucifer for the first time after learning the truth.

Lucifer woke up to sore wings and a crick in his neck. For a moment, the dark grey cushion in front of his eyes confused him, until he remembered the events of the day before - from protecting the Detective, to Cain, then his flight to Doctor Linda's office and checking out while Maze dug bullets out of his wings. Linda must have noticed he'd awoken because she spoke up soon after he remembered where he was.   
"Good morning Lucifer. How are you feeling?"   
He pushed himself up off the couch, folded his wings away and stretched, wincing a little as he did so, not used to having them out all night, before he pulled the blanket up to wrap around his bare shoulders.   
"M' wings are sore." he said, voice husky with sleep as he blinked a little blearily at her. As she turned to the small coffee machine in the corner of her office, Lucifer noticed she was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday, albeit a little more creased.   
"You didn't need to stay here all night on my account Doctor. I would've been fine if you dropped me at Lux."   
"I didn't feel comfortable leaving you alone Lucifer. You were really out of it, and neither you nor Maze were really in any state to go anywhere. It was no trouble really." she said as she made a cup of coffee and handed it to him before going back to make one for herself.   
"Maze left earlier. She said that you really needed to talk, but there were a couple of things she needed to do first."

He sat and sipped slowly at the hot liquid, more for the distraction than any minuscule effect the caffeine would have, as the horrible feeling in his gut from the day before returned, feeling so much worse than he remembered.  _The Detective was scared of him._  The coffee suddenly seemed too bitter and his stomach rebelled so he set the mug on the table and hugged his knees to his chest, pulling his feet up on to the couch. Linda settled herself in the chair facing him, sipping at her own coffee and allowing the caffeine to percolate through her and pull her further into wakefulness. She stopped sipping and looked very concerned when she took in the hunch of his shoulders and the slightly pained look on his face.   
"Lucifer what’s wrong?"   
"Sh-she’s scared of me. I-I expected it, s-so why does it h-hurt so much?" he stammered, struggling to force the words past the lump building in his throat and barely noticing as tears brimmed in his eyes. Linda wanted to reach out and comfort him, but held back knowing how uncomfortable he got with non-sexual touch he didn't initiate.   
"Chloe isn't scared of you Lucifer."   
"H-how can you s-say that? Sh-she saw that I-I'm a m-monster."   
"You are  **not**  a monster."   
"I k-killed a h-human. A-and I-I k-killed my b-brother."   
"Lucifer, look at me. Did either Cain or Uriel give you a choice?"   
"I sh-should've found a-another way." he murmured, avoiding her gaze.   
"That's not an answer. Did they give you a choice?" she asked, keeping her tone gentle but firm.   
"N-no." he said reluctantly, after a moment.   
"If you had a choice, would you have killed them?" she asked, continuing to speak softly.   
"No!" he exclaimed, looking horrified at the idea.   
"See, you're not a monster. They didn't give you a choice, and you acted the way you did to protect those you care about."   
Lucifer didn't look sure about that,   
"She's still s-scared of m-me."   
"She isn't, Lucifer. She called me last night and asked how you were, and wanted to speak to you."   
"Probably to tell me to n-never come near her o-or her family e-ever again."   
"I doubt that. She seemed genuinely concerned with your wellbeing, and she wants you to call her."   
"What if she was just in shock and she’s come to her senses now? I don’t want to cause her more distress."   
Linda stopped and thought for a moment.   
"How about I call her, and put it on speakerphone? Then if she doesn’t want to talk to you, you won’t have been the one to bother her, but you have to promise that if she addresses you or asks you a question you have to talk to her, ok?"   
Lucifer thought for a moment before agreeing, and put his feet back on the floor as he pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders.

After a few tense moments of listening to the phone ring, Chloe’s voice came through the speaker.   
"Hey Linda. Is everything ok?" she asked, sounding quite worried.   
"Hello Chloe. Everything’s fine. You’re on speakerphone, and Lucifer is here with me."   
"Lucifer! Are you alright? I was so worried when you ran off and then you weren’t answering your phone."   
"I am a little sore Detective, but you needn’t worry about me. You don’t ever have to see me again."   
"What? No! Lucifer I don’t want you to leave, why do you think that?"   
"You- you know who I truly am now. And I don’t want to go around pretending everything’s okay when I know that soon you’ll realise that I’m a monster."   
"You’re not a monster. I know who you are, and that is not it."   
"How can you say that? You saw my face, didn’t you?"   
"Your appearance doesn’t make you a monster. You, um, you can still look like you usually do, right?"   
"Yes."   
"Good. You need to give a statement at the precinct today. I would have covered for you if you couldn’t, but it’s better that you can go in yourself."   
Lucifer looked a little thrown off balance by the fact that Chloe wasn’t scared of him, so Linda spoke up.  
"I’ll make sure he gets to the precinct to give a statement Chloe."   
"Thank you Linda. I’ll see you soon Lucifer?"   
"A-alright Detective. I-if that’s what you want."   
"It is. Thank you Lucifer." she said and hung up.

They sat in silence for a moment after Chloe hung up, before Linda spoke up.   
"I’ll drive you to the precinct via Lux so you can get changed." Linda said, getting up and grabbing her car keys out of her bag. Lucifer still seemed a bit dazed by Chloe’s reaction, but followed her out of her office with the blanket still tight around his shoulders. As Linda left, she picked up the plastic bag with Lucifer’s ruined shirt and jacket in, along with the bullets they had dug out of his wings and a printout of the photo she’d taken of the gash in his arm, in case Chloe thought they needed to be submitted as evidence. During the drive, he sat unusually quietly, not saying anything until they reached the penthouse when he muttered something about needing a shower.

Linda sat and waited on his couch, and when he emerged you almost couldn’t tell that anything unusual had happened. His hair and eyeliner were perfect, and he was dressed in his usual suit - although she saw how it was armour rather than fashion this time. He filled his hip flask at the bar and took a few swigs from the bottle before he turned to face her, a forced smile on his face as the mask settled into place.   
"Well, shall we be off?" he asked, doing his best to convey his usual confidence. Deciding it would be better not to bring up his hiding at the moment, Linda stood up and started walking towards the elevator.   
"Let’s go."

\-----------------*-----------------

When they reached the precinct, Lucifer took a long swig from his flask before getting out of the car and walking inside. Linda said she would wait for him and drive him back to Lux afterwards, although he quietly believed he wouldn’t be leaving except in handcuffs. The officer at the desk directed him to one of the interrogation rooms, and he went via Chloe’s desk when he saw she wasn’t there, depositing the bag of possible evidence on it with a short note explaining what it was and that she should do with it as she wished. When he walked into the interrogation room he was greeted by a Detective he didn’t know, and took a seat on the wrong side of the table.

"Mr Morningstar, my name is Detective Derek Johnson. This investigation has been passed to the West precinct, as it was your Lieutenant, however there was a request made to have initial interviews here. Thank you for coming in." the Detective explained, as he set a voice recorder on the desk between them.   
"Where do you wish for me to start, Detective Johnson?"   
"Can you begin with the death of Ms Charlotte Richards?"

Lucifer told him exactly what had happened from the moment he and Chloe arrived on the scene of Charlotte’s murder to Cain’s death, his eidetic memory allowing him to recall everything in perfect detail. He left out any mention of wings, easily done in Amenadiel’s case as he hadn’t seen his brother, and avoiding mentioning using his own in the loft by telling Detective Johnson he had protected Chloe before getting her out of danger. When it came to Cain’s death, he never claimed it was self-defence as he still believed he should have found another way.

Once he finished his statement, Detective Johnson thought for a moment.   
"To me, that sounds like self-defence. I mean, you must be crazy strong - that knife went straight through his breastbone - but from what you and Detective Decker said, it doesn’t sound like there was anything else you could have done. Thank you for your time Mr Morningstar. I don’t think we’ll need to speak with you again." he said before clicking the recorder off and leaving the room. Lucifer sat for a moment gathering his thoughts and taking in the fact that the humans weren’t going to punish him for taking the life of one of their own. When he was sure none of this was showing on his face any more, he left the room.

Chloe spotted him as he walked out of the interrogation room and immediately rushed towards him.   
"You’re ok… I know you said you were and you don’t lie, but I needed to see for myself." she said, relief evident in her voice.  
As she spoke, Lucifer studied every inch of her face, desperate to have one last memory of her looking at him like he  _mattered_ , like he wasn’t the monster he knew he was, before she came to her senses and drove him away.   
"Yes, well, I heal quickly." he replied, flinching as he realised what he’d said, suddenly unable to meet her gaze for fear of what he might see there. Chloe realised the implications of what he'd just said at the same time as him, the box she'd shoved her inevitable freak-out in beginning to crack.   
"That- that's good. Um, Lucifer, I think I'm going to need a bit of space to think about all this, but promise me you won't run away. I'm not scared of you," she was quick to reassure when she saw his face fall at her admission, "but I never believed in any of this before yesterday, and it's a lot to take in."   
"I understand." he said, still not meeting her gaze and turning to leave. As he walked past her, she grabbed his hand and he turned to look at her, shocked that she could still stand to touch him after all he was and had done.   
"Promise me you won't leave Lucifer. Please."   
"Alright Detective, I promise. I won't leave LA."   
"Thank you Lucifer." she said with a small smile as she let go of his hand, and he couldn't stop himself smiling back at her, with that soft and genuine smile he reserved for her, as he left the precinct.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my amazing beta reader Hannah. Feedback is always welcome!


	4. Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Chloe asked for space, both she and Lucifer spend the next couple of weeks in quite different ways.

Lucifer spent the first few days after Chloe asked for space making good use of his personal bar and the many hidden stashes of drugs around the penthouse, trying to push all the conflicting feelings about her away. Maze came to talk to him a couple of days after they last saw each other, and they had a surprisingly civil conversation, agreeing to talk with Linda to try and work through some of their issues.

He spent a few nights lurking in dive bars, the sort of place no-one would look for him, in a half-hearted attempt to hide while keeping the promise he’d made to the Detective. One of these nights saw him sat on a squeaky plastic stool in a bar where the floor was permanently sticky and even their top shelf alcohol was several shelves below Lux’s bottom shelf. He was a mess, shirt half untucked and hair beginning to come loose from its styling. This was the third bar he’d been in that evening, having already been thrown out of two only a little classier than this.   
"You look like Hell." the bartender said gruffly as he slid the glass across the bar, and Lucifer couldn’t hold back the soft huff of laughter at the description.   
"What is it, divorce? Fired? You lost someone?" Lucifer grimaced a little on the last one before he spoke.   
"Not quite."  
"Touch and go is it? Or are you dealing with something terminal?"  
"Nobody’s dying. It’s just- my partner recently found out about a side of me that is horrific. Monstrous even. I had talked about it before, but she never believed me. And now I don’t know whether she’ll ever want to see me again, and I’m just waiting for the hammer to fall." he said before downing his drink and motioning for another. He didn’t know why he was explaining all this to a stranger, but something about the man's complete lack of judgement and open expression compelled him to share and take comfort in the pseudo-anonymity given by only speaking about it in vague but truthful terms.   
"Oof, sounds rough buddy. How long you been together?"  
"We’re not a couple. I’m her work partner, and we’re friends. At least, I hope I am still her friend."  
Silence fell over the bar for a few minutes, Lucifer polishing off almost a whole bottle of cheap scotch and the bartender making sure his glass was kept topped up.

"So, how'd she find out? You tell her?" he asked after a while, curiosity getting the better of him when it came to this well-dressed stranger who drank whiskey like water.  
"Sort of. I didn't mean for her to find out like she did. I didn't- I didn't know that I was showing her."  
"You were going to tell her though?"  
"I had tried to before, but circumstances intervened each time."  
"You trust her then."  
"With my life." he said without hesitation.  
"Give her time and space. Trust that she'll talk to you when she's ready. That's all you can do." he said, condensing everything Linda had been trying to get him to understand into three short sentences. As he turned to the glasses along the back of the bar he shot one last comment over his shoulder.  
"And you might not want to drink yourself to death before she gets the chance to come around."   
Lucifer couldn't help but smile at the unexpected joke, before downing the last of the bottle and leaving a few hundred-dollar bills under his glass.

He mostly stayed in Lux after the chat with the bartender, only leaving to talk with Linda, and for a few planned meet-ups with Maze. He attempted to play sets most nights for a few days, at Linda's suggestion, but no matter how upbeat the song he started with, they always slid into melancholy tunes, putting a very unwanted downer on the atmosphere, so he gave those up fairly quickly. He kept playing on his personal piano, finding it rather cathartic to pour his emotions through the music and stopping himself obsessing over when the Detective would speak with him again, and what she would say.

  


\-----------------*-----------------

  


After Lucifer left the precinct Chloe was summoned to the acting-Lieutenant’s office and put on leave for the next couple of weeks while Pierce’s network and death were investigated. It was only when she got home that the reality of the past few days and weeks really hit her. She’d almost married the head of a vast criminal empire, so elusive that most people thought he was a myth, and now he is dead by the hand of her partner  _who is actually the Devil._

_Heaven and Hell are real. **God**  is real. Her  **housemate**  is a  **demon**. Her partner is  **the Devil**._

Those four sentences span through her head on a loop and she could feel the world closing in around her as she sat on the floor of her living room trying to make it stop.

When she could breathe again, she picked up her phone with a shaking hand and sent a text to Linda. She had already said she was there for her whenever she needed it, so Chloe didn't really explain.   
_'I'm freaking out.'_    
**_'Do you want me to come over?'_**    
_'Please'_

Before she knew it, Chloe heard a knock at the door. When she opened it, Linda was stood on the other side holding a bottle of scotch.   
"I know it's not medically advisable, but I thought we might need this." she said with a smile, and Chloe felt herself relax a little now she wasn't alone with her thoughts.

Chloe found a pair of glasses in the kitchen and brought them over to the couch where Linda poured them both a generous measure. After they had both sat down, Chloe took a gulp as Linda waited for her to start the conversation.   
"It’s just so much. Heaven and Hell are real and my housemate's a demon and my partner is the literal Devil! How am I supposed to understand all that?"   
"Short answer is you probably won't. But on the bright side, it may take a while, but you will be able to get used to it as your new normal. You are already doing better than I did. I could barely do anything for days, and then I installed an insane amount of locks and deadbolts on my office door and spent my days worrying I'd see him again."   
"How'd you get over that?" Chloe asked, the story serving to distract her a little from her swirling thoughts and feel a bit better about how she was handling things.   
"Maze of all people. We were friends before I found out, and she came to my office about two weeks afterwards asking for a character reference and climbed in through the window when I wouldn't let her in. I, er, I didn't exactly handle that conversation well, but she came back a couple of days later to invite me for drinks to celebrate her first bounty hunting check. I wasn't sure that I could be friends with her, but she told me they were still the same people, and made a stupid joke, and I went. I couldn't stop myself quizzing Lucifer on Hell things though." Linda explained, and Chloe sat quietly thinking it over.

After a few moments Linda spoke up again.   
"It takes a while to get used to all this, but I have to ask. Are you scared of them? Lucifer and Maze?"   
Chloe considered the question for a moment before shaking her head.   
"No. I'm not. I feel like I should be, but I'm not. And to be honest, that's what scares me." She let out a soft huff of awkward laughter. "What kind of crazy must I be to not be worried that a literal demon babysat my daughter? And she considers Satan one of her best friends!"  
"You are not crazy Chloe. You just know them both for the people they are, not just what has been written about them."   
Chloe didn't look convinced, so Linda suggested something she could do, based on what she'd seen of how her mind worked.   
"Why don't you treat this like one of your investigations? Create a list of things that have been written about both of them, and call that theory, and then go through everything they have actually done or said to you that would confirm or refute the points, and call that evidence, and draw your conclusions from the results."   
"That- that actually sounds like a good idea. Thank you Linda."   
"Anytime Chloe. It is quite a lot to take in, but I must admit that it's nice having another human in the loop."

That night, after Linda had left and she was feeling a bit less overwhelmed, Chloe bit the bullet and told Trixie what had happened to Marcus. Her daughter had never really liked him, but hearing he was dead was a shock. Chloe didn't intend to tell her Lucifer had killed him, but after she'd explained that he was a bad man and Trixie had made the connection that he was the one who'd hurt her, she asked whether Lucifer had protected her, and Chloe told her the truth. She seemed surprisingly ok with that, looking more at the fact he'd protected her mom than that he'd killed someone.

Over the next couple of weeks, she built up the board and lists Linda had suggested, finding more evidence to refute the claims made in the Bible and common human knowledge than to support them. She also set up regular sessions with Linda to talk about it all, some actual therapy and some just a drink and a chat. After the first session, Linda told her she didn't need to worry about paying for them, as Lucifer had insisted he would pay for any time she decided she needed.

When she returned from leave, it was very odd not having Lucifer there, and she found herself missing his inappropriate comments and almost constant badgering while she was doing paperwork. After a few days without him, she screwed up her courage and drove to Lux after work when Dan had Trixie.

Lux wasn't open, so she parked in the lot below the building and to the elevator straight to the penthouse. The elevator ride seemed to take an eternity as she worried that he wouldn't want to see her, or she'd find him in the middle of an orgy, or that she'd freak out again when she saw him. Forcing herself to take a deep breath, she tried to relax as the doors slid open.

Lucifer didn't notice the elevator opening, sat at the piano singing and playing barefoot with his sleeves rolled up, and a glass sat on the piano lid. She said nothing, stood mesmerised by the soft playing and raw emotion in his voice as he played for no-one but himself.

When he finished the song, she spoke up, all her worries gone.   
"That was beautiful Lucifer." she breathed, and he spun round on the bench, surprise evident on his face.   
"D-Detective!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song Lucifer is singing when Chloe arrives is Creep by Radiohead, partially inspired by the video of Tom and Aimee singing it at the piano in Lux.
> 
> Thanks to my awesome beta reader Hannah. Feedback always welcome!


	5. The Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucifer and Chloe finally sit down and talk.

"Hi Lucifer." Chloe said, suddenly feeling shy.  
"I-I wasn't sure if you were ever going to come back." Lucifer admitted, his shock evident on his face.  
"Yeah, well my whole world view has been turned on its head, so I needed a bit of space to sort that out, but I was starting to miss my partner."   
"You're not scared of me?"   
"No Lucifer. I've never been scared of you, a little scared of what it all means, but never you. How could I be scared of a man who made an earnest deal with a nine-year-old over a game piece, and once seemed to be genuinely scared of said nine-year-old?"   
"Well if most of your experience with children is those who end up in Hell your view is going to be a little bleak." he said, pouting a little.   
Chloe giggled at the face he pulled and all the tension melted from Lucifer's shoulders as it sunk in that she wasn't scared of him and she wasn't going to leave. After a moment she looked surprised as what he'd said actually registered.   
"Wait, there are children in Hell?!"   
"Yes. Only a few, but there are some children whose soul is so twisted and damaged they could never be allowed into the Silver City. Child's cells nowadays are always locked, and before I left I got the demons to bring me any child who ended up in Hell to ensure there hadn't been a mistake."   
"The cells are locked?"   
"Most cells in Hell aren't locked, the only thing holding the soul there is their own guilt, but there are some, mostly psychopaths or sociopaths who have done terrible things, who don't feel guilty, so their cells are locked. They are the ones that get personal torture from the demons."  
Chloe looked a little stunned by this new information, and Lucifer went to get her a drink and top up his own before leading her to the couch, bringing the bottle with him. He sat down at the other end to her, keeping plenty of space between them, and waited for her to take a drink before he spoke again.

"I apologise Detective, that was rather dark, but I imagine you have other questions, and I shall do my very best to answer them. Ask away."   
"Does it hurt?" she asked, a note of concern in her voice.  
"Pardon?"   
"Your other face. It looked so raw and burnt. Does it hurt?"   
He looked at her with surprise and wonder in his eyes.   
"You truly are a remarkable woman Detective."   
"What?" Chloe asked, slightly confused at his reaction.   
"You have free reign to ask anything of the Devil, and you ask me if I'm alright. Nobody's done that before. But in answer to your question, nowadays, hardly at all. Only when the weather is bitterly cold, which is part of the reason I like LA so much."   
"So you chose LA for the weather?"   
"And for the pun Detective. I mean, the Devil in the City of Angels, how could I pass that up?"

"Why are you on Earth?" she asked after a moment and another top up for Lucifer.   
"I initially came up because I wanted a vacation. Hell is a horrible place, even for its ruler, and every so often I’d come up here and spend a few days surrounding myself with debauchery and life before Amenadiel dragged me back down. Longest I managed to evade him was a month and a half. Sometimes I came up alone, but mostly Maze came too."   
"So what happened seven years ago that made you stay?"   
"I came up for my usual vacation, alone this time, and when Amenadiel found me I persuaded him to let me have ten minutes to say goodbye to everyone alone, and during that time he managed to get mugged and lose his necklace. He told me he tried using local law enforcement, but they didn’t help so he asked me."   
Something in his tale sparked a memory for Chloe.   
"No way." she breathed.   
"It’s true Detective, I assure you."   
"No, not the story. It's just that at the beginning of the case that let me make detective a guy came in to report a necklace stolen, and I think it might have been Amenadiel. He was wearing a 'If you're rich, I'm single' shirt, an Angels cap and rhinestoned sunglasses."   
"That was him! I had no idea you had met."   
"Yeah, well I thought he was a prank sent by Paolucci. I mean, he looked ridiculous, spoke really weirdly and showed me a 'rendering' of his mugger that looked like a jack o'lantern. I told him that, and he asked where he could find Mr O'Lantern!" she laughed, and Lucifer couldn't have stopped himself joining in even if he wanted to.   
"Oh I am so reminding him of that the next time I see him." he chuckled, and Chloe suddenly realised how much she'd missed that sound over the past couple of weeks.

"So, what happened next?"   
"Well, after whatever happened at the police station, he came back to me and asked for my help, eventually agreeing to give me a blank cheque in exchange for my help. We followed the trail of the thief through the murder of Aiden Scott to a fight club named Rico's. Amenadiel ended up being entered as a fighter to draw out the man who fixed Aiden Scott's fight. I brought Maze up to interrogate the man - don't worry Detective, she didn't torture him. She got overexcited and had sex with him instead, but he still talked. He led us to the real murderer after me and Amenadiel fought and he lost, and after we retrieved his necklace I cashed in the cheque for him leaving me and Maze alone. I bought the club, penthouse and the Corvette, got papers made, and we've been here ever since."   
"Where is Amenadiel? I haven't seen him in a while."   
"He regained his wings, and flew Charlotte's soul up to the Silver City. I assume he is still there."   
"The Silver City, that's Heaven, right?"   
"Yes. And before you ask, your father is there too. I know the name of every soul in Hell, and he is not among them. He sounds like he was too good to end up in my domain anyway." he answered earnestly, and Chloe found herself blinking back tears. Lucifer noticed the wetness glistening in her eyes, and a confused expression crossed his features.   
"I-I'm sorry Detective, I didn't mean to upset you."   
"You didn't, just-shut up." she said, and closed the gap between them before pulling him into a hug. He was surprised at the contact, but quickly relaxed into the embrace, resting a hand between her shoulders and her head on his shoulder.   
"Thank you Lucifer."

After a moment, when she was feeling less teary, Chloe pulled away, and they resumed their conversation. She asked many more questions about Heaven and Hell, angels and demons and him, and he answered almost all of them. Some he couldn't answer, like what Heaven was like now as he was kicked out before the first human souls arrived, and some he refused to answer for the moment, as he believed the answer would only serve to drive her away while everything was still so new. When the bottle on the table was empty - mostly drunk by Lucifer - he plucked up the courage to ask a question of his own.   
"Detective, if I may, how are you ok with all this?"   
"Linda helped. I was never scared of you, but I was scared that I wasn't, which seems crazy. Linda suggested I treat it like a case, and write down all the Biblical and common human knowledge stuff about you and Maze and compare it with what I know, and your actions. And that showed me that history has got you horrifically wrong. Maze not so much, but a little bit." she explained, and Lucifer looked at her with wonder, a small smile on his face.   
"I know you Lucifer, and you're a good man."   
The open look of childish awe on his face as she said that made her heart ache and she smiled back at him.

They chatted a bit more after that, starting another bottle of scotch and talking about anything that crossed Chloe's mind, including Lucifer explaining that he was not, had never been and will never be interested in anyone's soul. When Chloe started feeling a little tired, she glanced at her phone and saw they'd been talking for hours and it was getting late.

"I should probably get going soon. It's getting late, and I've got work in the morning."   
"You could stay here Detective. I have plenty of guest rooms."   
"Thanks for the offer Lucifer, but I don't particularly fancy a walk of shame, or having to get up really early to pop home and change."   
"That's understandable. I'll call you an uber though. You have drunk quite a bit."   
"Thank you, but before you do that, I have one more question Lucifer. Why did you show Linda and not me? And why do you accept her being ok with knowing you’re the Devil and not me?"   
Lucifer took a deep breath before answering, hoping that Chloe would understand his reasoning.   
"I showed Linda before you because she insisted. You remember how after the incident with the sniper you told me to talk to someone? I went to her that evening and explained everything that had happened, but she stopped me and insisted I dropped the metaphors. I gave her the opportunity to change her mind but she still insisted, so I showed her. It almost broke her Detective. She froze and I left and it was two weeks before I saw her again. When I did go back, she stayed behind her desk for a while, visibly anxious, and kept asking me about Hell. That was a more expected reaction than you had. Most of those who see my face go insane. And I - I don't care about her the same way I do you," he explained, feeling a little sheepish at the last part, "I did try and show you a few times though, and circumstances prevented it."   
"So when you goaded me into shooting you, and in Ella's lab after you were kidnapped you were trying to give me proof?" she asked, suddenly realising his shock in both situations was 100% genuine. He nodded in confirmation.   
"I'm sorry I didn't believe you."   
"It's alright Detective. You are a woman of logic, and I wouldn't expect you to believe without definite proof."

She smiled at him, before getting up and stretching as she picked up her jacket and phone. Lucifer got up to see her off, and as they waited for the elevator Chloe turned to him.   
"So, see you tomorrow at work?"   
"Y-you want me to come back?" he asked, obviously surprised by her question.   
"Yeah, of course. I just got cleared to start working cases again, and I don't want to do that without my partner. If you want to come back."   
"O-of course Detective. I'll see you tomorrow then." he said as the elevator doors slid closed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my awesome beta reader Hannah. Feedback always welcome!


	6. Back to normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucifer returns to the precinct, and everything begins to settle.

The next morning, Chloe found herself waiting nervously at her desk for Lucifer to arrive. She was beginning to think he’d decided not to come when a takeaway coffee cup was put on her desk.   
"Sorry I’m late Detective. There was a ridiculous queue for coffee. I brought you a tall, non-fat almond milk latte with sugar free caramel drizzle. And a Danish, if you want it." Lucifer said, producing a paper bag as well and offering it to her.   
"Thanks Lucifer." she replied, taking the bag from him with a small smile, not missing how he relaxed a little as she did so. A slightly awkward silence fell over her desk until the new Lieutenant dropped a file in front of Chloe.   
"New case, you're up Decker. And you must be Morningstar." he said, drawing himself up to his full height and looking the Devil in the eyes.   
"Lucifer, please. And you are?"   
"Lieutenant Toby Carter. You're the guy who thinks he's the devil." he stated, and Chloe tensed, trying not to react now she knew he wasn't delusional.   
"I  _am_  the- hmph." Lucifer replied exasperated, cutting himself off when he noticed Chloe's discomfort.   
"That's a yes then. Oliva had good things to say about your partnership, so I'm interested to see you two work. Lopez and Espinoza are already at the scene." he said, before turning away and walking back to his office.

The drive to the crime scene passed in a slightly awkward silence, neither of them with any idea what to say, so it was a bit of a relief when they pulled up to the barrier. Dan saw them pull up, and offered Chloe a slightly weak smile and shot a glare at Lucifer. Ella was examining the body, and didn't notice the pair until Chloe spoke.   
"What've we got Ella?"   
"Chloe! And Lucifer! Good to see you back dude!" she grinned, jumping up and hugging him tightly around the middle.   
"It's good to see you too Miss Lopez." he said, letting her hold on for a moment before gently pushing her away.   
"So Ella, the victim?" Chloe asked, pulling Ella’s attention back to the crime scene.

The case turned out to be fairly straightforward, although there was a lot of legwork and it took a while to collect enough evidence to guarantee a conviction, so they spent the better part of a week on it. The first couple of days were awkward, as Lucifer kept stopping himself speaking every time he realised he was making Devil references and Chloe caught him watching her nervously when he thought she wasn’t looking. It made their partnership seem horribly forced, and Chloe missed the easy banter from before she found out. When this showed no signs of changing, she confronted him on the third day.

"We need to talk." she announced when Lucifer came back from getting her a cup of coffee. A brief look of almost-fear flashed across his face before he settled the mask back.   
"A-alright Detective." he replied, trying his best not to betray his sudden nervousness.   
"In private please Lucifer." she said, and led him to an empty conference room.

As soon as she shut the door, Lucifer turned to her and started rambling nervously, pacing back and forth in front of her.   
"I’m sorry Detective. I can leave by the morning, you'll never have to see me again. I've always liked the idea of Perth, I just need to see if Maze wants to go back to Hell and-"   
"Lucifer!" she interrupted, grabbing his arms to stop him pacing and get him to listen, "Listen to me. I don't want you to leave."   
"You- you don’t?" he asked, genuinely confused.   
"No Lucifer. I don’t. I told you before I’m not scared of you."   
"Then wha- what did you want to talk about?"   
"You’ve got to stop dancing around things just because I know now. The past couple of days, you've cut yourself off every time you started to make a reference to Hell, or you being the- the Devil and it's making everything awkward. I don't need you to censor yourself for my sake. And I miss your little interjections about the weirdness of humanity or whatever."   
"T-truly?" Lucifer asked, mouth agape.   
"Yeah. I miss our banter. You don't have to walk on eggshells, if something bothers me, I'll tell you, ok?"   
"O-ok. But promise me that if anything I say upsets or scares you, you will say."   
"I promise Lucifer. Now come on, we've got a case to solve." she said, letting go of his arms and smiling at him. He smiled back at her.   
"Lead the way Detective."

The rest of the case was more like usual, Lucifer making inappropriate quips at almost every opportunity, and Chloe only had a couple of momentary mind-blanks at things he said, mostly things he had mentioned before, but now she knew he was telling the truth it knocked her off balance for a moment. She kept to her promise and reassured him it was ok whenever it happened, and he reiterated his willingness to answer her questions over a glass or two of something at Lux or her home. They spent a couple of evenings sat in his penthouse as she quizzed him with her latest set of questions, and one night Lucifer invited her down to the club to listen to his set, finally feeling up to it after weeks of not playing in public.

She stood by the bar as he approached the piano, the music fading out and a hush falling over the club. The bartender - Patrick if she remembered correctly - brought her a drink as the first few bars of David Bowie's Changes rang out across the club.   
"I'm glad you came back Ms. Decker. Boss hasn't played a set in weeks. He looks happier than he has in ages."   
Chloe didn't know what to say to that, settling with sending a smile Lucifer's way when he next looked over at her. He beamed back at her before launching into another song, his rich voice caressing every note as his fingers danced across the keys.

After a couple more songs, Lucifer paused in his playing to announce the next one.   
"This song is dedicated to a very special and remarkable woman, who I don’t deserve to still have in my life after all I’ve put her through. This one’s for you." he said, glancing at Chloe before he started to play. She couldn’t help the blush rising on her cheeks and her smile as she recognised the opening to Eternal Flame.

When the song was over, there was a shout from the crowd.   
"Tell us her name!"   
Lucifer glanced over at Chloe as she shook her head slightly, enough for him to notice but not draw attention to herself.   
"I would darling, but she doesn’t want me to, and I am trying my hardest to be a considerate Devil. I am afraid you will have to remain in suspense." he responded, before nodding at the DJ, meandering over to the bar as the music started up again.

"What did you think Detective?"   
"It was beautiful Lucifer. Thank you." she said, feeling the blush still colouring her cheeks and smiling at his happiness.   
"It was nice to be able to play a set again. I've missed playing for an audience." he replied as Patrick handed him a drink.

They spent the rest of the night chatting, and Lucifer persuaded her to join him on the dancefloor for a couple of songs before she had to go home, feeling like everything was getting back to normal.

\-----------------*-----------------

A couple of days later, they arrested the murderer, and Lucifer helped Chloe with the paperwork for once.   
"So, um, how about dinner? A-as friends, t-to celebrate closing the case." he asked, obviously flustered and nervous. Chloe couldn’t help but think she shouldn’t find his nerves adorable, but so help her Lucifer’s Dad she did, and she couldn’t stop the soft smile gracing her features at his question. She wasn’t ready to pursue anything romantic with him just yet, everything still just a little bit too new and uncertain, and a lot of conversations yet to come, but she felt that it would be a possibility for the future.   
"Yeah Lucifer, I’d like that." she answered, and Lucifer’s face lit up. As he offered her his arm to walk to the car, Chloe realised that no matter how crazy her life had become, being friends with demons and angels and the Devil, she wouldn’t change a thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all who read this and left kudos and/or comments! Thanks again to my awesome beta reader Hannah. Feedback is always welcome!


End file.
